Nevada law enforcement officers to hone skills at special
accident reconstruction class

The Nevada Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Division is hosting a 40
hour class on pedestrian and bicycle accident reconstruction, March 8-12, for 26 law
enforcement officers representing five Nevada law enforcement agencies. The class is being
offered through a traffic safety grant provided by the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety via
a contract with a branch of Texas A & M University Law Enforcement & Security
Training Division, of the Texas Engineering extension service.

The field exercises portion of the class will be held on Thursday, March 11 from
8:30am-11:00am at the Stewart Facility on Gibson at 5500 Snyder Avenue in Carson City. The
field exercises will simulate pedestrian and bicyclist-involved collisions with crash test
dummies being struck by a moving car at residential street speeds. Law enforcement
officers attending the class will watch and "investigate" to better hone their
skills in this area.

In Nevada in1998, there were 314 fatal traffic collisions resulting in 360 fatalities.
Of those 360 fatalities, 47 involved pedestrians. Based upon figures from the National
Safety Council, the societal economic cost to the community for each fatality is
calculated at $900,000.00. Each traffic collision burdens the community with economic
costs of between $9,300.00 and $49,000.00, depending on the severity of the injury.